Drugs gang smuggled cocaine worth £2 million aboard cruise ship to UK waters

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A cruise ship worker smuggled £2 million worth of cocaine to UK waters before lowering it from the liner to a waiting boat and two accomplices who have been jailed for their part in the conspiracy.

Milos Bigovic, from Serbia, had hidden the 28kg of cocaine on the Marella Discovery 2 in Cartegena, Colombia, before the liner’s Caribbean voyage was abandoned in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

The passengers disembarked and the ship returned to Europe, where it moored off the Isle of Wight.

It was on April 25 2020, that Bigovic dragged the holdall containing the drugs from his cabin to a port-side deck and attached a rope to it.

He lowered it down to his accomplices, Benn Bath, 36, and Joshua Paige, 31, who were waiting in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (Rhib) below, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

A NCA spokesman said: “The drugs, which were smuggled on to the cruise ship, were so heavy the rope burned the skin from Bigovic’s hand.

“Bath and Paige were experienced seamen who worked in the maritime industry.

“In the preceding days, they had sailed Bath’s own boat, the Chatham Albatross, from the River Medway in Kent to the Isle of Wight.

“They had bought the Rhib for £5,000 and towed it from the Albatross so they could get close to the Marella and accept the drugs under cover of darkness.

“It is not known for sure whether it was Bath or Paige who manned the Rhib and sailed it solo from the Chatham Albatross, which was waiting nearby, to the cruise.”

Their movements were being observed by NCA officers and video footage of the drugs being dropped has now been released.

The spokesman added: “The 28kg of cocaine was originally supposed to be smuggled ashore somewhere in Europe.

“But when the Marella Discovery changed course because of lockdown, the organised crime group (OCG) behind the drugs had to change their plans.”

Bigovic, of Pozarevac, near Belgrade, was jailed for 11 years in 2021 having admitted importing cocaine.

Bath from Staplehurst, Kent, was sentenced to 18 years and Paige from High Halstow, Kent, to eight years after being convicted at Winchester Crown Court of the same charge.

NCA investigators then uncovered a second conspiracy involving Bath to import another 90kg of cocaine into the UK onboard a barge from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Liam West, 31, of Rochford, Essex, who skippered a tug that towed the barge was jailed for 14 years and accomplices Christopher Mealey, 47, of Liverpool, and Paul Farrell, 44, of Bolton, were jailed for 22 years and 23 years respectively.

NCA operations manager Jules Harriman said: “This OCG clearly had international connections and was able to orchestrate crimes with accomplices abroad that damaged the UK.

“The NCA has the reach and capabilities to tackle such harmful crime groups that have strands overseas and we work with key partners, such as Border Force, to protect the public from the Class A drugs threat.”